3,000 sign whitehouse.gov petition seeking “vapid response,” cookies

The "We the People" petition feature on Whitehouse.gov has had to adjust its …

A feature on the White House's website designed to encourage citizens to interact with the administration has become what every very public forum on the Internet eventually becomes: a target for trolls.

The "We the People" petition feature of whitehouse.gov, launched in September, is intended as a way for citizens to petition the Obama administration for action on specific topics of concern. Citizens can register an account on the site, and create petitions or sign those of others. When a site user creates a petition, a unique URL is generated for the petition that can be spread via social media or e-mail; the petition becomes visible on the White House website once it hits 150 signatures within 30 days. If a petition gets over 25,000 e-signatures in 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff for an official response, according to the latest version of the tool's "terms of participation."

That threshold was originally set at launch at 5,000 signatures. But the administration has been forced to tune its thresholds to deal with the popularity of the petition tool and the flood of petitions that reached the 5,000 signature threshold, such as petitions to acknowledge that aliens are among us and to "stop lying."

The tone of the White House's response to many of the petitions has spawned the latest rapidly-rising request for a White House response, so far signed by over 3,000 registered site users. A less sarcastic, but equally critical petition criticizing the White House's treatment of the petitions has reached 13,000 signatures.

Oh please, trolls? If anything, it's the White House that's trolling the American public by asking them what they want changed, then ignoring, misleading, and outright lying to them (see their petition response about the War on Drugs for a great example, and "In God We Trust" for another). Obama didn't mean for this website to generate serious debate and discussion, and he's reaping what he sowed.

You got it backwards, Sean. The petition only has ~3700 signatures. It requires ~21000 more in order to attain it's vapid and pointless response.

Jack is correct, the reporting is wrong. That's how many more signatures are needed to have the petition recognized. Thanks for the article though, I added my signature as it's pretty spot on with the idiotic responses that have been given so far.

This sort of vapid, senseless petition reveals how little this generation knows about its own government. Many of these petitions, including the "patents" petition, seem to think the executive branch can and should flout existing laws. The executive is not all powerful. It can try to set the legislative agenda, but ultimately, the legislation is up to, well, the legislature. The utter failure of the latest jobs package should be the perfect illustration of that fact. In the real world, there is no magic wand the president can wave to solve all the problems so neatly resolved in petitions and blog posts. If you want to blame anyone, blame the Senate. It's an institution explicitly designed to dampen the winds of change.

James MadisonFederalist No. 62http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa62.htm "The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions. Examples on this subject might be cited without number; and from proceedings within the United States, as well as from the history of other nations. But a position that will not be contradicted, need not be proved. All that need be remarked is, that a body which is to correct this infirmity ought itself to be free from it, and consequently ought to be less numerous. It ought, moreover, to possess great firmness, and consequently ought to hold its authority by a tenure of considerable duration."

Oh please, trolls? If anything, it's the White House that's trolling the American public by asking them what they want changed, then ignoring, misleading, and outright lying to them (see their petition response about the War on Drugs for a great example, and "In God We Trust" for another). Obama didn't mean for this website to generate serious debate and discussion, and he's reaping what he sowed.

THIS. We are not the trolls for signing this (which I have) -- we have BEEN trolled by the white house after their responses to our legitimate concerns were pushed aside, much as an adult will push aside the toys of an infant boy, pat him on the head and say "everythings okay."

The whitehouse.com responses to the "legalize marijuana" and "in god we trust" petitions were insulting.

Trolls?Not really. They're actually pointing out how this is nothing more than empty pandering.

seanjh wrote:

This sort of vapid, senseless petition reveals how little this generation knows about its own government.

1) George Bush seemed to get by just fine with executive orders.2) The Executive IS responsible for things like the crackdown on medicinal marijuana dispensaries3) The White House, as you said, can influence or at least propose things for the legislature. So that IS something to petition them for.

People are asking for, at the very least, an acknowledgment of facts and populace opinions rather than party lines and outright LIES. Instead, the response is nothing more than empty, oft-repeated platitudes and bullcrap.

I'm assuming you know that orginally the Senate was not elected by popular vote. Senators were appointed by the upper chamber of the legislature of the state they represented. This, combined with their longer terms was supposed to limit how susceptible they were to being swayed by public opinion and the flavor of the week.

Vetoing bill after bill is not the way to get things done. Just look at the rift created between the two parties when Bush was doing it day in day out.

It's an effective way and when one party is effectively stonewalling all progress regardless of content like a petulant child, you need to play hardball back at them.

Quote:

You are also kidding yourself if you think its that easy for the president to force feed laws down the throats of the members of congress and the house.

This is more due to the lack of party solidarity with the Democrats. Quite honestly Obama should just stop caring about what the GOP wants, because their desires only really merge onto the focal point that is the removal of him from office. If the Democrats were actually as lockstep as the GOP or the parliamentary in other countries, he could effectively govern with impunity.

To steal a line I read many years ago, "online petitions are about as useful as a toothbrush made of ants". No ones vote carries any weight because of how it works, all you have to do is link to it in the right place with the right group of people.

And most of the issues bought up so far aren't new issues. It's not like the government didn't have a position on marijuana before nor understood that a significant portion of the community supports legalising/decriminalising it. It's just that it's not a long enough trend or seen as a large enough support base to actually help rather than hinder in an election. There's a vote that holds some weight, if 15% of the country voted for a marijuana party in the election, or a politician built a support base on its legalisation, then it would hold some meaning.

I'm assuming you know that orginally the Senate was not elected by popular vote. Senators were appointed by the upper chamber of the legislature of the state they represented. This, combined with their longer terms was supposed to limit how susceptible they were to being swayed by public opinion and the flavor of the week.

I do indeed. In fact, that original characteristic of the Senate is in that Federalist Paper I linked. I'm not necessarily supporting or criticizing the legislature's design, I'm simply pointing out that our system is designed to resist change.

Trolls?Not really. They're actually pointing out how this is nothing more than empty pandering.

seanjh wrote:

This sort of vapid, senseless petition reveals how little this generation knows about its own government.

1) George Bush seemed to get by just fine with executive orders.2) The Executive IS responsible for things like the crackdown on medicinal marijuana dispensaries3) The White House, as you said, can influence or at least propose things for the legislature. So that IS something to petition them for.

People are asking for, at the very least, an acknowledgment of facts and populace opinions rather than party lines and outright LIES. Instead, the response is nothing more than empty, oft-repeated platitudes and bullcrap.

The whitehouse.com responses to the "legalize marijuana" and "in god we trust" petitions were insulting.

And those questions are not insulting? Do you really think this was the intent of this forum to the public when it was designed?

You are a child if you think this is a good use of time.

Giving the number of people currently in prison for marijuana charges, it seems like a good idea. That said, there is a bill already introduced to do this. Given the popularity of it, perhaps Obama should put his support behind it.

Also, it'saee a while since School House Rock, but I believe the President can propose a bill, he just can't pass a bill by himself. At the very least, he should have no trouble convincing one congressman to propose a bill.

Being farmiliar with the level of political discourse on the Internet, I have to give the Whitehouse credit for braving the world's biggest trollfest. They probably knew in advance the problems, but they were willing to try it anyway.

Also the definitive answer on legalizing marijuana was given by Steven Colbert. "This is what you said, but this is what I heard" so "spend a little less on the wacky tabacy, and a little more on the super packy".

This sort of vapid, senseless petition reveals how little this generation knows about its own government.

Actually this sort of vapid, senseless comment neatly mirrors the vapid, senseless responses to the petitions in demonstrating how little you or the people running whitehouse.gov know about the people much less 'this generation' (curious to know where you're getting the age statistics on petition signers). Few were actually expecting the President to wave a magic wand and make something 'better' as soon as enough people signed a petition for it. That was never what anyone reasonable person thought would happen. Your point, however, seems to be that because that cannot happen that we should not expect an engaging and challenging response on the issues raised by the petitions instead of just canned platitudes. So what if the President can't change patent legislation overnight, what does that have to do with the abysmal responses these petitions have been garnering?

Actually, people jailed for nonviolent offenses like minor personal drug use are one of the prime reasons the US has one of the largest incarceration rates on Earth, which IS an issue that should be addressed.Tied to this is the threat of a prison-industrial complex that has already taken hold, which the more educationally inclined are deeply concerned about, especially in terms of political influence which seems quite vast in places like Texas.

These are certainly issues quite closely tied to the legal status of drugs in the United States, and ones that need to be accessed and addressed in some way.

Building a strong foundation starts with a single stone. Or brick, or what-have-you.

Those darn liberals are at it again. There's 10 cookies in the jar and they want 3,000. But if we impose a cookie tax on the 12 people who eat more than 100,000 cookies a year, the deficit will drop from 2,990 cookies to 2,978 cookies.

Of course, if we take the 10 cookies we have and soak them in a pot of tea, all 3,000 can have a sip of cookie infused tea and everyone will be happy, right?

Sean Gallagher / Sean is Ars Technica's IT Editor. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.